Savpraxx
Description The Savpraxxi — more commonly known as the Surpraxxi due to their suppressing of all other Surpraxxi species (and also as the Green Surpraxx to those who know of the other Surpraxxi species) — are one of the more interesting creatures in the Kyklos galaxy, physically speaking. They possess the qualities similar to both a crocodilian and an insect, a combination which is currently not known to be found anywhere else in the galaxy except their own world, making them physically unique among creatures. On their homeworld, they were sapient; however they had never established technology and remained in their hive caste style they have always been under. Much like ants, they are led by their queens, which they call the Slurvs. Slurvs are gargantuan and are capable of surviving out in space, due to their uncanny ability to equalize pressure in their bodies. This process is not fully understood, possibly due to the Surpraxxi's refusal to allow autopsies on their queens to be performed. The Slurvs are so vastly larger than the Surpraxxi themselves, in fact, that many don't even make the connection between the two races being one and the same. They tend to be disgusted with the physical looks of others, finding non-insectoid creatures "gross". They will constantly insult the species they are speaking to, with occasional bouts of stomach sickness. However, they can hold their stomachs when it comes to their allies, however few their allies may be. Notable Surpraxx *War Ambassador Kromma *Hive Captain Krogga *Bugrug, Inflictor pilot Scientific Classifications Earthbound Classification *'Domain:' Eukaryota (Complex Organisms) *'Kingdom:' Animalia (Animals) *'Phylum:' Arthropoda (Arthropods) *'Subphylum:' Hexapoda (Six-Legged Arthropods) *'Class:' Cyclopsidae "Single Eyed" (Single Eyed Entosuchuses) *'Order:' Entosuchus "Crocodile Cut Into Sections" (Crocodilian Insectoids) *'Family:' Formicilae "Ant Like" (Ant-Like Entosuchuses) *'Genus:' Surpraxxidae "Surpraxxi" (Surpraxx) *'Species:' Pratina "Green" (Green Surpraxx) *'Binominal Name:' Surpraxxidae pratina Statistics worker and an average Human.]] *'Species Nicknames:' Swarmers *'Home Planet:' Surpraxxia *'Species Type:' Cold-blooded Subterranean Invertebrate *'Speech Style:' Surpraxxi possess mouths and vocal chords for speaking aloud to other races, but revert to a series of morse code style taps on the ground using their tails when communicating to other Surpraxxi. The Slurvs control their broods through a Hive Mind, although if one of the Surpraxxi gets far enough away from its Slurv, it can regain a mind of its own. This has been taken advantage of by Lord Transpose. *'Lifestyle:' Social Warriors *'Hunt/Forage Success Rate:' Surpraxxi Workers do all of the hunting for their hives (as well as most of the work required). Typically, the Workers have a searching success rate of about 70%, but their hunting success rate in bringing down the prey they find rates at an impressive 95%, due in whole to the massive amount of Workers in a single hive. Success rate of cultivating mushrooms is 100%, as the mushrooms reside within specialized sections of their own hive. Harvested floral matter also has a success rate of 100%, considering the leaves and such never go anywhere to escape or anything, and the Surpraxxi tend to know where the flora are in relation to their hive entrances. *'Armor:' Savpraxxi possess toughened scales much like a crocodile, combined with their strong exoskeletons, giving them a powerful self-defense. *'Defenses:' A Savpraxx's natural defense is their thick exoskeletal armors. See Armor. *'Weapons:' All Surpraxxi have mutations of their species, much like ants. For the Savpraxx, most versions possess little in the way of weapons, as they rely on the Warriors and Guardian Savpraxxi to defend them. These two possess massive jaws, with Warriors possessing more powerful jaws and Guardians possessing thicker armor. *'Tools:' They possess little in the way of physical tools, using their mandibles to pull levers and their jointed limbs to push buttons. *'Method of Eating:' Solitary worker leaves the hive tunnel, using his various senses to locate potential prey. He will initially size up the organism alone, but then use the Hive Mind to call forth others to help subdue the prey if need be. The prey is usually brought back to the hive alive, and injected with powerful neurotoxins by the Injector caste that paralyze the prey until feeding time. During feeding, the workers first feed the Slurv, then the Guardians and Warriors, next the larvae and Nurses, then feed themselves, and finally the Injectors and Kings. The food is taken in through the mouth, then passed through the digestive system and out the [cloaca on the other end. *'Reproductive Rate:' The only Savpraxxi capable of breeding are the Slurv Queens, which produce one egg every ten minutes, which is then relocated to the Hive Nursery by the Worker Savpraxxi. *'Gestation:' The Slurv have a super short gestation period of about 1 day. *'Offspring Incubation:' After birthing, the Surpraxxi Workers take the eggs to the Hive's nursery, where the Savpraxxi Nurses take care of the eggs from then on all the way until hatching as full-grown adults. The eggs take approximately 2 months to hatch into grubs, and then another 3 months to pupate. After that, it's only one more month until the chrysalis hatch, revealing the adult imago within. *'Number of Offspring:' Although only one egg is birthed at a time, the Slurvs never stop giving birth unless they purposefully retract their ovipositor for events such as relocating the hive or the occasional floating through space in more recent times. *'Offspring Survival Rate (before age of maturity):' 95% due to the Hive Mentality. *'Singular/Plural/Possessive:' Surpraxx / Surpraxxi / Surpraxxi Physiology Below in this next section, you will find information on the Savpraxx's physical appearance, and explanations of things including, but not limited to, their exoskeletal structure and their senses. Exoskeleton *''Under Construction'' Musculatory System *''Under Construction'' Organs *''Under Construction'' Savpraxx Castes Below in this section, you will find information about the various Savpraxx caste "mutations". Each caste, much like ants, are born specifically designed to complete their various tasks. Slurv (Queen) .]] The Slurvs are the queens of the many Surpraxx species. Vast in size, they significantly dwarf their children and, for that matter, most other sapient races. Slurvs tend to be around 100ft long from tip of the snout to the very tip of their abdomens. Unlike the rest of the Surpraxxi, Slurvs do not possess the typical crocodilian-style tail of their children, instead possessing a gigantic abdomen which houses their ovipositors and other birthing organs. Coincidentally, most non-educated individuals in other races tend to not make the connection between the Slurv and the various other Surpraxxi due to the huge differences between them (namely the vast size difference), hence the Slurv possessing a different name than their children do. Other than the size difference and the absence of the tail, the Slurv also possess a much more powerful cyclopean eye rather than the typical compound eye. This eye is full of rods and cones allowing colored sight comparable to a human, and even possesses a leathery eye lid that they use to help equalize the pressure of the organ during movement through space. Slurvs are initially born with wings and are much, much smaller. This is so that they can successfully fly off to found new colonies during mating seasons. Every few years, three new Slurvs are born, and two Kings. At the peak of the summer months, every colony of Surpraxx release their surviving young Slurvs and Kings, which amass into great swarms of mating clouds. These mating clouds last anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days, with the Kings perishing soon afterwards and the recently-impregnated Slurvs finding new spots to build colonies to call their own. Soon after establishing their own colonies, the Slurv's wings drop off and they quickly begin to grow in size. Their initial workers (known as constructors) are far smaller than their eventual ones, and are built to help clear out the new hive for future generations. King *''Under Construction'' 'Larvae/Chrysalis' The Savpraxxi Larvae are small, pathetically weak grubs without legs and completely incapable of self-survival; without the aid of a Nurse they will quickly perish. All larvae are born from eggs birthed by the Hive's single ruling Slurv through her ovipositor. The larvae are all born as sterile males (to prevent the Kings from attempting to mate with them, for one) unless they are held within a special nursery especially created for creating females, ie Slurvs and Nurses. Like crocodilians, the gender, and therefore, the caste of each larvae is determined by the temperature they are raised in. Males require a higher temperature to be born, and are therefore placed within a nursery closer to the surface of the planet. Females on the other hand require a slightly lower temperature to be born and are therefore placed within a nursery further below the surface and closer to the Slurv's chamber. The caste that each larvae turns into is completely dependent on what the Nurses feed them. Savpraxxi Slurvs require rare fruit found on trees that sparsely populate the grassland zones they choose to reside in. Likewise, all other castes require other types of food, varying from meat from differing prey to leaves and fruit to the mushroom-equivilents they keep within their colonies. Warrior The Warrior caste are the soldiers of the Savpraxxi Hive, and are the ones sent out to battle with other hives. Built for war, they are one of the slower castes, second only to the Guardians and the Slurv herself, but are more heavily armored. Their legs are thicker, and their tails are somewhat shorter than the average Savpraxx's; however, it is covered in razor sharp thagomizer-like protrusions allowing it to be used as a weapon. The Warrior's mandibles have been highly adapted, growing to a very large size, typically barely avoiding brushing the ground when standing upright. These mandibles are incapable of anything other than grappling and slicing large foes (such as other Surpraxx), and so the Warriors are completely incapable of feeding themselves. Because of this the Workers bring them food. To keep them fit and healthy, the Warriors are generally fed the most nutritious food available, which has been devastating to more than one hive when a local famine erupted on the surface. When Lord Transpose arrived and granted the Savpraxxi the miracle of modern technology, it was the Warriors who were chosen to pilot the species' more powerful starfighters, the Abuser Class. Guardian The Guardian caste is the defenders of the Savpraxxi Hive. Closely related to the Warrior caste, they are bred to stay within the Hive, and protect it from outside invaders. Built more for defense than offense, they are even slower than the Warriors due to a heavy increase in armor, and are second only to the Slurvs in slow speed. To make up for their slow speed, however, their armor is nearly impenetrable in most places, and is highly resistant to blaster shots of both laser and plasma, and is equally resistant to various types of corrosive acid (due to certain species of Surpraxx being capable of detonating themselves). Like the Warriors, their legs are thicker and their tails are somewhat shorter than an average Savpraxx's, with the latter being covered in razor sharp protrusions allowing it to be used as a weapon. Also like a Warrior, the Guardian's mandibles are highly adapted for battle, but possess weaker muscles than a Warrior's. Guardians, too, are totally incapable of feeding themselves, and are therefore fed by the Workers the most nutritious food available to the Hive at any given time. Despite the similarities between Guardians and Warriors, Guardians are adorned with wonderfully sculpted natural exoskeletal armor, the most noticeable of which is the fancy design of the head crest. Nurse Nurses are slightly smaller than Workers, and have far thinner, stiff tails which are held above the ground as opposed to other castes whose tails typically are left to drag. Their mandibles have been adapted for carrying Larvae, and are curved out and upwards. The Nurses are the only caste capable of retracting their mandibles, so as to make picking up the Larvae easier. Due to this, the Nurses have large "head shafts" into which these mandibles slide. Unlike most other castes, Nurses are capable of feeding themselves. However, they are regarded highly amongst the hive members and are therefore fed by the Workers. Nurses are also unique in that they possess two smaller, round compound eyes underneath their heads in order to help them in locating the grubs in their nursery. Worker The backbone of any Surpraxxi Hive, the Workers do almost all of the work required to be done. They are in this manner builders, hunters, excavators and feeders all rolled into one. Workers do not possess adapted mandibles and use only their mouths to carry objects. However, they possess a powerful bite, and are capable of carrying up to 20 times their own weight. When Lord Transpose arrived and granted the Savpraxxi the miracle of modern technology, it was the Workers who were chosen to pilot the species' main starfighters, the Inflictor Class. Lord Transpose also has successfully tricked Slurvs into allowing him access to several Workers on board his own personal ship which he purposefully keeps at a large distance away from any Slurvs in order to keep these workers as fully-sapient allies. The most notorious of these sapient Workers is Kromma, who was elected as the species' War Ambassador by Lord Transpose himself. Injector Injectors make up the lowest caste among the true members of a hive. Their only occupation is to inject prey with powerful neurotoxins which is stored in sacs on the sides of their heads. Their mandibles have been adapted for this purpose and appear as extremely sharp, downward-curving fangs. Because of this, they are unable to hold their own food, and must be fed by the Worker caste. Constructor Not a real caste but a term used for a Slurv's initial workers, which are used to excavate the initial hive. Because of their temporary usage, they are smaller and more plentiful than later Workers, but have a very short lifespan of about 3 months. Unlike other castes, Constructors are born straight into their adult stage and completely skip the larval stage altogether. Also, the Constructors are birthed two per egg. Once the initial hive has been built, the Slurv is genetically prevented from birthing Constructors, and begins to pump out regular Larvae. The remaining Constructors are forced into playing the role of both Workers and Nurses until their replacements reach maturity. Slave Slaves have no typical form as they are not birthed from the Slurv of that hive, but rather are taken from defeated hives, thereby allowing any and all caste types of all Surpraxxi variants to show up here, minus Kings and Slurvs. Technologies The Surpraxx did not possess any technologies of their own for thousands of years. However, when Lord Transpose came down upon their world, he promised the Savpraxx victory over their enemies in exchange for their loyalty. When they accepted, he taught them about technology, telling them of war machines and warp drives, of cloaking devices and complex theories. With this knowledge he aided them in their creation of weapons of war - however, he left the designs to them, hoping they might come up with ideas that could well complimented his own. Although they didn't start out with interstellar devices they did eventually work their way up to it in an extremely short amount of time. Below is a list of a variety of the Surpraxxi's deadliest or most well known technological achievements. Interstellar Warships *''Under Construction'' Inflictor with his Inflictor.]] The Inflictor is the primary starship used by the Savpraxxi, generally numbering in the hundreds per battlefield. Triangular in shape, they are swift and are armed with a rapid-fire pulse laser located beneath the front of the ship, which is used as the primary weapon as it requires less energy to use. The secondary weapon is more unique — the ship charges and stores a ball of pulse laser energy within a sphere of kinetic influence, which prevents the energy from escaping into space. This sphere is kept behind the ship itself, held in place by a short ranged but powerful negation beam (which works similar to a tractor beam, only it keeps the object at a specific distance rather than dragging the object towards itself through artificial gravitational pull). Once the pilot chooses to fire this weapon the sphere is catapulted forward, which due to the after-effects of the negation beam possesses limited homing abilities. The sphere is meant to hold as much of the pulse laser energy as possible until it comes into contact with an enemy vessel, at which time the sphere is destroyed and the energy damages the target. However, over time the sphere will slowly dissipate (as the negation field is required to keep it fully operational) and will eventually break open, allowing all stored energy to escape. Inflictors only hold a small compliment of crew and possess weak hull strength, but make up for this in the sheer number of craft in a single battle. Abuser *''Under Construction'' Hiveship *''Under Construction'' Hive Supreme *''Under Construction'' History Evolutionary History All Surpraxx species evolved from far smaller, monocular, flying insectoids known as cyclosects, measuring on average only a few inches in length. These cyclosects resembled a cross between Earthly species; specifically a wasp, a dragonfly and an earwig. As the millennia rolled on, however, they quickly evolved into larger and larger sizes, until they were too large and heavy to properly fly. At this point, they would fly during their early years of adult life, and once they got large enough, their wings would fall off, allowing them to traverse on land instead. This habit would continue on in most species of Surpraxx. The very first entosuchids evolved about 470 million years ago, at which time the various species had reached average lengths of about 3-5 feet. These still possessed the earwig-like pincers, now attached to the tip of the tails, which were destined to drop off of nearly all future Surpraxxi species. These entosuchus evolved a weaker but more durable exoskeleton consisting of a leathery material, allowing them to survive being stepped on or crushed. At this point, the entosuchids were still terrestrial beings and had yet to evolve into a burrowing organism. Entosuchids were still quite low on the Surpraxxian food chain, and the world at this time was dominated by large lizard-like reptiloids. It was during these times that Protosurpraxx lived. At around 110 million years ago, a dramatic shift in temperature caused a deadly ice age to occur which successfully wiped out 99% of the reptilianoid species that had once controlled the planet. At this point, the insects inherited the world once again, and many adapted to living in the glacial conditions that covered half of the world; of these insect species, many species of entosuchids were included. The most notorious of these entosuchids were the Woolraxx, which evolved by covering its body with large amounts of silky, brownish-colored setae, in order to keep itself warm. The Woolraxx also grew enlarged mandibles, built specifically for digging through thick glacier ice. Special glands within these mandibles allowed them to produce large amounts of heat, which worked like an ice skate by melting the ice that it came in contact with, thereby allowing the mandibles to cut through the glacier ice "like a hot knife through butter". With the end of the Ice Age 75 million years ago, the woolly entosuchids died out, but left behind their descendants, the formisuchids, or ant-like entosuchids. This came about because the woolly entosuchids had discovered that it was easier to live in colonies in their glacial homes, as their combined heat made for better living conditions, and living in a colony meant not needing to exit the den to find a mate, which was hard due to the near-constant blizzards occurring. These formisuchids continued to live in colony dens; however now that the glaciers were all but gone they were forced to begin excavating dens underground. The first of these formisuchids possessed adapted front legs, built to excavate dirt with maximum efficiency. However, later species instead would excavate with their mouths, a tradition the Savpraxx would come to follow. The Surpraxxi first started showing up in the fossil records only 7 million years ago, but had quickly begun to dominate the landscape. The first true dominating Surpraxxi was the Megalpraxx, a 25ft carnivore and the first to possess a more modern Supraxxi design, having lost the tail-pincers and having a more triangular head and elongated complex eye. It was these creatures that eventually gave birth to the massive ancestors of the Slurvs. These ancestors, known as the Proteroslurvia, were the first to introduce mutated castes into the system, having grown into the rulers of semi-complex hive systems and possessing a primitive hive mind. Modern Surpraxxi evolved and appeared only 1.5 million years ago and they finally reached the top of the food chain about 1.2 million years ago. At this point about a hundred Surpraxxi species existed, but all but a few went extinct due to fighting for dominance between the various species. By the time of Lord Tranpose's arrival, only 8 species were known to exist, with each having taken ruling possession over a specific biome. These species were: *'Savpraxx or Green Surpraxx (''Surpraxxidae pratina):' Controlled the savannahs and grasslands. *'Surpentraxx or Red Surpraxx (Surpraxxidae piros):' Controlled the jungle habitats. *'Scoriapraxx or Black Surpraxx (Surpraxxidae ebonius):' Controlled the more heavily-volcanic regions. *'Sandpraxx or Tan Surpraxx (Surpraxxidae zandineustes):' Controlled the arid desert regions. *'Seapraxx or Blue Surpraxx (Surpraxxidae azzurroneustes):' Controlled the waterways; typically found in marine environments. *'Shardpraxx or Violet Surpraxx (Surpraxxidae crystalis):' Controlled areas dominated by crystalline forests. *'Sporepraxx or Grey Surpraxx (Surpraxxidae asheni):' Controlled areas dominated by poisonous fungiferous forests. *'Snowpraxx or White Surpraxx (Surpraxxidae glacieralis):' Controlled the alpine areas. Surpraxx Wars *''Under Construction The Arrival of Lord Transpose & The Upliftal *''Under Construction'' Interstellar History *''Under Construction'' Examples of Interaction with Humankind 'The Surpraxxi Meet Humanity' Below you will find a word-for-word account of the first known encounter between a Surpraxxi Hive Fleet and a Human Starcruiser: *'Captain Starfield (Human):' Greetings, fellow starfarers! How may I classify your species? Ally of good, ally of evil, or the occasional 'neutral'? *'Hive Captain Krogga:' ...! You!! *'Captain Starfield (Human):' "Me"? Excuse me, but have we met before? *'Hive Captain Krogga:' You resemble our ancient cave paintings on our homeworld: we have met a similar species to yourselves before. *'Captain Starfield (Human):' Oh really? And how did that fair? *'Hive Captain Krogga:' ...As ancient scriptures describe...you were delicious. Hahahaha!! *'Captain Starfield (Human):' Yikes. That's not too nice of you, we've come in peace! *'Hive Captain Krogga:' And we've come for dinner!! Make your necessary preparations, ugly dual eye! We come aboard in the name of hunger! *'Captain Starfield (Human):' Okay. Our necessary preparations include warping out of here! See ya! *'Hive Captain Krogga:' Follow them! The Starcruiser did indeed survive the encounter, with medium loses due to attacks from various Inflictor and Abuser-class Savpraxxi warships. They however took a random warp path in order to escape with their lives and ended up in an unknown part of the galaxy, and are currently attempting to locate home and warn Gaia of the Surpraxxi Hive Fleets. Typical Encounter Speech Below is an example of a conversation between an unnamed Savpraxxi captain and a Human captain, in times where hostilities between the UFCL and the Scourge are prevalent. *'Surpraxxi Captain:' Why do you continue to live? *'Human Captain:' Cuz...death is boring. *'Surpraxxi Captain:' You sound so certain... how can you be so sure if you haven't even experienced it yet? Yes... I believe it is high time we assist you in getting better acquainted with the Netherworld. *'Surpraxxi Captain:' You are in direct violation of Transpose's Law of Subjugation. Lay down your weaponry and surrender, or else face the wrath of the Savpraxxi! *'Human Captain:' Oh, sure thing. We surrender. *'Surpraxxi Captain:' Prepare to be boarded. Any resistance shall not be tolerated and shall bring this hive's hostilities against you and your crew. *'Human Captain:' Actually, we lied. We'll never surrender. *'Surpraxxi Captain:' A wisecrack. How droll. You have made a very stupid mistake this day. Prepare your hideously squishy outer shells to feel the brunt impact from our fleet's death-dealing laser systems. Trivia *The Surpraxxi were a race Somarinoa created far back in 5th Grade (approximately 1994 by current calculations). They were drawn hundreds of times — or rather, their vessels were in little space battle doodles drawn to cure short bouts of boredom. However, they never received a true drawing for their species' physical appearance, nor even a name until far more recently (2005-2006), during the creator's attempts to induct all his old characters and races into the current version of his mythos. Gallery Savpraxx Chat Concept.jpg|Conceptualization of a Savpraxx chat log. Savpraxx Fan Art 1.jpg|Fanart of a Savpraxx. Category:Somarinoa's Content Category:Spore Category:Original Content Category:Alien Species Category:Sapient Species Category:Omnivores Category:Scourge Space Pirates